President Clinton and President Zedillo of Mexico today announced
agreement on Bi-National Performance Measures of Effectiveness (PMEs),
an important advance in the two leaders' continued effort to combat the
threat of illegal drugs. The PMEs provide objective markers that the
United States and Mexico can use to measure the success of our
cooperative efforts to reduce the supply and demand of illegal drugs.
They also serve to identify those areas in which both nations can
intensify their counter-drug efforts. By imposing measures for
determining progress, the PMEs ensure a greater degree of accountability
and scrutiny.

On May 6, 1997, the United States and Mexico formed an Alliance
Against Drugs, which laid the foundation for the U.S.-Mexico Bi-National
Drug Strategy, issued in February of last year. This strategy
complements the national drug control efforts of both the United States
and Mexico, and promotes the three principal counter-drug objectives we
share:

Reduce the illicit consumption, production and traffic of narcotics
and psychotropic substance in both countries;

Combat drug-related crimes, such as money laundering, arms
trafficking, and the diversion of precursor and essential chemicals; and

Treat the health and safety problems generated by drugs that both
our countries face.

The PMEs are critical to the implementation of this strategy,
enabling both governments to track progress towards achieving each of
the sixteen major goals identified in the Alliance declaration, and the
147 action items specified in the Strategy. The PMEs address the
following areas of drug control:

The PMEs not only enable both partners to gauge progress in these
areas, but also orient future counter-drug efforts. The Bi-National
Drug Strategy calls for responses to the results our on-going
cooperation, as measured by the PMEs, by prescribing modifications to
both nations' counter-drug efforts.